Scotland's care home residents allowed three outdoor visitors at a time

New rules have come into force this week allowing Scotland's care home residents up to three outdoor visitors from two households at any one time.

The restrictions on access to outside visiting have been slightly eased for those care homes who are COVID free but face coverings and social distancing will still need to remain in place when families visit their loved ones.

This will be the first change in visiting rules since July 3, when it was announced one designated visitor would be allowed outdoors.

The Scottish cabinet secretary for health and sport, Jeane Freeman, announced on Friday (8 August) care homes will only be able to permit visiting if they have been COVID-free throughout the pandemic or if all affected residents have fully recovered and no residents have had symptoms for 28 days.

Aberdeen sees no change to visiting restrictions due to lockdown

Ms Freeman said: "This has been, and continues to be, a very challenging time for care home residents, their families and staff.

"Care homes are first and foremost people's homes and we are committed to reintroducing measures that allow residents to connect with their family and friends. But this must be done safely and with precautions.

"It is important that we continue to monitor this situation and that all changes within care homes happen incrementally and with real caution to protect residents and staff.”

The guidance still states: ‘Outside face covering should be worn. All visitors should maintain a physical distance of two metres at all times where possible and use an alcohol-based gel to clean their hands prior to and after their visit.'

Essential visits, including those involving end of life care, have been permitted throughout the pandemic and should continue to be supported by care homes.

"At this point in time clinical advice is not to restart indoor care home visiting, but to ensure the necessary plans are in place to move to this as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Ms Freeman also warned there will be no change to the current visiting restrictions at care homes in Aberdeen, where lockdown measures have been imposed due to a coronavirus cluster.

"We are also working to identify the necessary steps needed to restart communal activity within care homes and to reintroduce external outings by residents.

"This is a complex piece of work and we will of course include key partners in this,” Ms Freeman added.

Resident visits to friends and family could be announced soon

Dr Donald Macaskill, chief executive of Scottish Care said: “The last few months have been exceptionally hard for folks in our care homes and for their families, being separated with only limited, often virtual, contact.

“At the beginning of July we opened up care homes to outdoor visiting and I am very pleased that in our slow journey back to normal life we can shortly allow the careful start of a degree of indoor visiting subject to local sign off by Public Health Officials. As well as this, it is positive that an increase in the numbers able to visit residents outdoors is now possible.

“Throughout the restoration of family visiting, we have tried to strike the hard balance between getting people back to seeing and being with their families and keeping residents, staff and others safe from the virus. We are very aware of how pernicious this virus is so guidance and measures will remain in place to protect everyone.”

The Scottish government are also looking at re-introducing indoor visits in the coming weeks. The Scottish government advice includes adequate PPE and physical space for the 'designated visitor.'

In order for the care homes to achieve this, they will need to develop a plan before being signed off by the Health Board’s Director of Public Health. This should be done no later than August 24.

The Scottish cabinet secretary said: "This is being continually monitored and I hope we can give a further update on this in the coming weeks.”

Ms Freeman is also hoping to re-introduce trips out of the care home for residents wanting ‘to visit friends and family.’ The Scottish government plans to make this announcement soon.

To read the latest Scottish government guidelines for outdoor visiting click here